added nmbd and winbindd to /etc/rc.d/init.d/rc.local. The later starts but not nmbd

That should be /etc/rc.d/rc.local .So far as I know, the files inside /etc/rc.d/init.d are not executed at boot.These files are the available scripts to start and stop services (whether you actually start them at boot or not), like the ones you see in the VasmCC service menu.

I use VL5.9 STD as a samba server at my office recently and never encounter anything like nmbd never autostart at boot time. Maybe there is thing wrong with your samba config, or bad samba installtion. How about reinstall or upgrade to a new version of samba. I believe there is a newer version of samba in VL repo. You can have a try. Good Luck.

Actually the error was mine, hata_ph: my fingers mistyped and the should have said '/etc/rc.d/rc.local'.

I restored smb.config to an earlier version that didn't have a bunch of stuff I found while studying - no help. I downloaded samba-3.0.32-i486-1_slack11.0.tgz from slackware and installed it. (While looking, I found smbc-1.2.2-i486-1asz.tgz which is samba commander that I can use once samba is running again.) Since my last reboot, smbd and winbind are running but not nmbd!

It is strange! Last night all 3 were running - after I manually started them - and the win pcs could access one of the shared files. But not after booting this morning. I had the wrong path on the other one! nmbd does NOT start when I give it the command nmbd start which started it yesterday.